Transmission and distribution (T&D) losses, Aggregate Transmission and Commercial losses (AT&C), quality of power and fluctuation in power supply are some of the major challenges faced by Indian power utilities. This is despite not overlooking the fact that in the last decade, the country witnessed sizeable improvement in quality of power, especially in urban and semi-urban areas.

The 12th edition of ELECRAMA, the World´s largest Transmission and Distribution Exhibition was a power packed event, which was held at BIEC, Bengaluru from 13th -17th February, 2016. The event witnessed the presence of who´s who in the power industry both domestic and international.

Solar technology has many unique attributes which make it one of the most preferred sources of power, particularly in India, a densely populated country with a high energy deficit - it can be rapidly deployed across most parts of the country, it is modular in nature and it is environmentally friendly.

Under the strong leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, I got the opportunity to head the Heavy Industries Ministry in which BHEL comes under my purview. If you analyse BHEL´s financial progress in the past two-three years, the company has been under tremendous pressure, mainly due to the coal scam that shook India.

The Department of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises has written to the Finance Ministry seeking a grant of Rs. 250-300 crore for starting from April-May a series of pilot projects on public transportation through electric vehicles. The amount will be used to give incentives to the State Governments or the special purpose vehicles to promote green technology for mass transportation. The project is at an advanced stage of consideration in Delhi, whereas AP, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pr

The Union Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Praful Patel has said that inadequate infrastructure facilities lead to delay in completion of power projects located in remote, far flung hilly areas and near the sea coast face. Coal pithead thermal power projects located in remote areas, hydro power plants located at far flung hilly areas and nuclear plants located near the sea coast, face very serious problems because of the lack of infrastructure facilities in these areas.